Much has been said and written about the situation today in Afghanistan. Since the ruling Taliban movement conquered the capital in 1996, women have been subjected to what the West regards as draconian measures. Radio Netherlands producer Eric Beauchemin spoke to four Afghan women who live as refugees in Pakistan. They're among the 1.5 million Afghans who have fled the war and poverty in their own country and taken refuge there. These women all lived under Taliban rule, but even before women's rights were being curtailed.
My Only Wish was produced by Eric Beauchemin of Radio
Netherlands. It aired as part of
the international documentary exchange
series, Crossing Boundaries. The voice-overs were read by
Iris Walstra and Ginder da Silva.
Links:
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
A political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan
WAPHA: Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan
Under Taliban rule, women were stripped of their basic human rights, such as, the right to their own bodies, the right to speak, to give and receive health care, education, the right to work and walk down the street.
Afghan women unite in cyberspace against Taliban repression
The fight for democracy and the rights of women in Afghanistan is being seen and heard with the help of today's modern technology...
The National Council of Women's Organizations
A bipartisan network of more than one hundred women's organizations, working towards improving the lives of women worldwide.
Books:
Women of the Afghan War by Deborah Ellis, 2000
This book is an account of the Afghan War and its tragic aftermath as told by the women who were caught up in it and became its innocent victims
Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the Taliban by Larry P. Goodson, 2001
Going beyond the stereotypes of the black-turbaned Taliban fundamentalists, Larry Goodson explains in this concise analysis of the Afghan war what has really been happening in Afghanistan in the last 20 years, and why the future of Afghanistan matters
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